Numbers read, not interpreted
An interpreter who repeats a figure without understanding whether it is quarterly, annualised, gross or net will eventually repeat it in the wrong frame. Sector-matched interpreters are not a luxury here.
Industry
In finance, an approximate rendering is a material error.
Guidance is worded carefully on purpose. A hedge, a qualifier, a tense — each one is doing work. Interpreting and translating for financial audiences means carrying that care across the language boundary instead of smoothing it away.
Financial Services & Fintech
What we support
STIB supports banks, asset managers, fintechs and their counsel with translation and interpreting for regulatory filings, transactions and investor communication between Brazil and international markets.
Two things make this sector unforgiving. The first is that the audience checks: analysts and counsel read the translated version against the original. The second is that much of the vocabulary is legally defined rather than descriptive — a term sheet's defined terms mean exactly what the document says they mean, and a synonym is a different term.
What we translate and interpret
- Regulatory disclosures and filings — material facts, periodic reports and the language that regulators read literally
- M&A due diligence and data-room documents — hundreds of files where the same defined terms must recur identically
- Term sheets and investment memos — short documents where a single adjective carries commercial weight
- Audited financial statements — notes and accounting policy language, which follows its own conventions in each jurisdiction
- Fund documentation — constitutional documents, subscription material and investor reporting
- Investor call interpreting — results calls and one-on-one meetings, live and unforgiving
Failure modes
Where language actually fails in this sector
Not theory — these are the recurring ways a language workstream costs a project time.
Defined terms turned into synonyms
Good general translators vary their vocabulary to avoid repetition. In a transaction document, that instinct is actively harmful — the defined term has to repeat.
Guidance softened or hardened
"We expect" and "we are confident" are not interchangeable, and the difference can be a disclosure problem rather than a style problem.
Live settings
Where we interpret in this sector
Results and analyst calls
Simultaneous interpreting delivered remotely or on site, with the deck and the release studied in advance.
Investor roadshows
Several meetings a day with the same message and different questions — usually one interpreter across the whole day for consistency.
Due diligence sessions
Management interviews and data-room Q&A, often over weeks, where the same interpreter accumulates context that a new one would not have.
Regulatory context
Bodies and frameworks in play
Work in this sector regularly involves terminology and requirements tied to the following bodies, on both sides of the transaction.
Banco Central (BCB)
Brazil's central bank, which regulates financial institutions, payments and foreign exchange.
CVM
Comissão de Valores Mobiliários, the Brazilian securities and capital markets regulator.
ANBIMA
The Brazilian association of financial and capital market entities, whose self-regulatory codes shape fund documentation.
B3
Brazil's stock exchange, with its own listing and disclosure rules.
SEC
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the counterpart regulator in most cross-border filings.
FINRA
The self-regulatory organisation overseeing broker-dealers in the United States.
Straight answers
Financial Services & Fintech: questions we are asked
Can you interpret an earnings call between Portuguese and English?
Yes. Results calls are delivered with simultaneous interpreting, remotely over the platform you already use or on site with equipment. The release, the deck and the prior quarter's transcript are studied in advance, because most of the difficulty is in the guidance language rather than the numbers.
How do you handle defined terms in transaction documents?
They are extracted into a glossary before translation and then repeated identically wherever they appear, rather than varied for style. This is the opposite of general-purpose translation practice, and it is what keeps the translated document legally coherent with the original.
Do you sign an NDA before receiving deal documents?
Yes, before any file is shared, and STIB signs the client's own agreement when required. Named linguists are assigned to the transaction and material is not circulated beyond them.
Can the same interpreter cover a whole due diligence process?
Yes, and it is the recommended arrangement. An interpreter who sat through the earlier management interviews already knows the structure, the defined terms and the people, which makes later sessions faster and materially reduces the risk of an inconsistent rendering.
Do you work with the counsel and advisers as well as the company?
Yes. On most transactions the glossary is agreed with counsel, because the defined terms come from the documents they drafted.
Tell us what is on the table.
The documents, the meeting, the dates and the languages. You get a scoped proposal from the team that will run the assignment.